Quebec students stage mock crucifixion on Good Friday

Montreal, Canada, Mar 29, 2005 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Some Quebec university students staged a mock crucifixion on Good Friday to protest the government's decision to cut $103 million from student bursaries, reported the Canadian Press.

This is the latest in a series of protests against the provincial government, which announced the cutback in the fall.

The theology students, who staged the crucifixion, stripped the student of her cap and gown and draped her in a white sheet with the words "Poor Students" on it.

She carried a cardboard cross along the streets, shouting: "I just want to study." All the while, fellow students, representing Premier Jean Charest’s Liberal government, were whipping her. She was then taped to the cross.

The students said the protest was not meant to offend anyone and they argued Jesus was “a political activist.”

The Canadian Religious Conference and the Jeunes Etudiants Chrétiens (JEC) had expressed their support for the students’ plight earlier in March. They were unreachable for comment on the mock crucifixion due to the Easter holiday.